Ants In A Glass Case
by Ultimatedaywriter
Summary: In a dystopia world where a water source comes with monsters. One village stands tall with sex robots, artificial wombs, and the cult of technology. Like crabs in a bucket when one rises the others try to drag it down. Watch this crap desperately flail to escape the bucket or die trying. Lemons and fun for all. Not HP
1. Prologue

Rain fell thick, heavy, and overbearing in its cold constant presence. It fell endlessly eroding soil, old streets, and even wearing away at buildings. Once tall buildings had been worn away by the constant downpour. The soil around their foundations withered until thier foundations showed themselves. Such an act seemed blasphemous like ripping away a woman's cloths on a crowded street leaving her naked for all to see. Yet even those massive structures could barely be seen through the abundance of rain.

The constant beat of the rain was a cacophony of sound like the rattle of legions of desert naga. Only the occasional boom of thunder like god's wrath broke the constant cloaking sound. For a scout like Lewis Noah the sound made his task easier. He was hired by the Farron company to scout out the great empty. He was a long way from his home Noah village.

His earpiece crackled to life. "Lewis what do you see?" Maxus Farron asked. Even soaked to the bone the earpiece functioned perfectly. That's Farron engineering for you. He hurried to answer.

"Nothing just a lot of rain and as for my third eye nothing. Any qi I use is quickly stolen by the empty." He tripped over a root and fell in the mud. Mud covered his scarce armor and clumped against his skin. The heavy rain would rinse him off before long. Looking down he saw the ancient dead root of a life tree.

Lightning flashed down striking the remnants of an ancient bell. It sat in the ruins of a vast city one destroyed perhaps century before his birth. Claw marks slashed through ancient buildings carving through steel and rock like a hot knife through cheese. They had stopped three times digging deep rivets in the earth before reaching their prize.

"Commander is this really the remnant of Scale village? I thought civil war destroyed the village." Lewis continued following the path of destruction. So far it had been an easy job. Despite the lack of vital energy in the air this village was monster free. Maybe the monsters didn't like the rain. To think if he had a few barrels, he could become a wealthy man in the capitol. He could buy better pills to further his cultivation, a home for his mother, and a dowry for his sister. His mother could stop whoring and his sister would never see the streets and marry a good man.

"Focus Lewis do you see any signs of monsters?" Maxus asked over the speaker.

"No nothings here this place is just an empty ruin." He said with certainty. They had promised him entry into their guild if he did this one job for them. It seemed the gods were finally smiling down on him.

A light cut through the rain shining its blinding light on him. Out of the mud rose bodies larger than humanly possible with twisted metal parts jutting out of them. One stepped into the light revealing a face half torn away revealing rusted metal and mechanical eyes. They glowed red even in the light.

"I found something send everyone there are monsters here." There was no response. Not even static responded on the other end. He took off his earpiece to see it flashing red. What was going on? He threw it at the nearest monster. Clonk, the device hit its metal face then tumbled into the mud blinking its red light.

He turned to run only for powerful hand to grip his leg. Lewis tripped and fell in the mud. The creature that rose had the curves of a woman. Even covered mud it was beautiful with the largest breasts he had ever seen. They were big, round, and gravity defyingly firm. Spider like legs made of steel erupted from her back to latch onto him. He pushed all the qi he could into his feet and kicked against her worn mud-covered face. The thing of beauty cracked and peeled revealing cold metal. Her metallic hand tore through the skin of his leg as he pulled away.

Lewis ran towards the carrier heart pounding. He could feel his leg throb in pain as another flash of lightning revealed more faces of grotesque machines. They smiled pale white faces rotting away to reveal inhuman metal beneath. As he ran a few charged behind him at a sedate pace.

He realized why they moved so slowly. They were machines, he would tire long before they would. With another flash of lightning the ruined walls of Scale village shown. Tall machines well over 50ft in height looked down upon him. They were broken in places one missing an arm while the other had no legs. The third's chest cavity was open to the elements sparking and hissing while rain entered its delicate machinery.

Once he passed the walls these sentinels wouldn't matter. He would have done his duty to the guild and they would reward him. Just as he entered the hole in the wall, he heard boom and felt his chest explode with red gore. His armor was too light to protect him. It must have been the shock and adrenaline that made him jump and tumble in the mud. He tried to move his hand to his chest and stop the bleeding somehow.

The big breasted monster stood over him her ruined face set in a smirk. The weapon that must have ruined his chest held in her hand. She pulled out a skinning knife and pinched his cheek. He felt her pinch him but couldn't move.

The monster moved quickly cutting into his young face. Even the tears were denied him by the rain. His body shook as his qi finally ran out and he couldn't hold his body together any longer. Just as it did, she pulled his face free and placed it over her own ruined face. Silvery things swept out and then he was looking at a feminine version of himself. She was beautiful.

Then a sword slammed between her perfect breasts and the lights in her eyes winked out. The man who killed her could be no other than Johnson Farron head of the Farron guild. Formerly a house of this very village now a ruthless sect leader.

Johnson struck a heroic image wearing red and gold power armor with pauldrons thick enough to stop a dragon's claw. He was tall in nearly eight feet monstrously huge and armed with a sword long and curved like a crescent moon. The sword was the color of moonlight and had thrust through high grade steel easily. There would be songs about this man's swords but none for Lewis the scout.

Johnson tossed the remains of the monster from his blade before taking her weapon and letting out 5 more cracks of thunder. No light flashed; he couldn't see what was happening now. Another flash of lightning revealed a pool of red beneath him. It spread only for the rain to turn it from crimson to pink.

As his eyes went dark all he could hear were the sounds of boots in the mud and the rain. Only now did he realize that his mother would die on the street. His sister would follow their mother and become a whore. Maybe some noble would take pity on her and she would become his mistress. That was the best she could hope for. In Noah village there was a boy named Lewis who dreamed of becoming a hero and saving his mother and sister from poverty. That boy was dead and gone his name nothing more than a statistic in the the Farron scout death data file.


	2. Chapter 1

Johnson sat on a park bench reading a copy of Coding For Dummies 3.0. It was the end of the day and there was still a little sunlight left. Soon the great bell was going to toll ending the day. The copy was good it had plenty of good humor mixed in with ridicule. For a Farron at age 17 to read this book was embarrassing even so he needed it. It was almost as embarrassing as when his father hit him. As his father's 309th son that was far more attention than a slacker deserved. He could code like any Farron he grew up coding and using his qi to send orders to the many family androids. His cultivation in his family's cyber cultivation style was only stage 1 when it should be stage 5.

He turned a yellowed page. There were tablets made of metal and plastic that contained thousands of books like these, but his father wanted him to learn a lesson. How the old man found a solid copy of this old joke book was beyond him. This was the same edition his father had their natal androids read to them only physical. He wondered how his natal gynoid Gloria was doing. He hadn't seen the motherly droid since he was 8. "Doll play back my father's words for me I need inspiration." Johnson said.

He heard the tone of his father's voice along with some heavy breathing. "You used all your time to cultivate your pathways to stage 5!" Smack! "I can't believe how stupid one of my seed turned out. You are a nation with fantastic roads between stick huts. What use is a find road with nothing to go to?" Smack! He heard a wet smacking sound and a slam against a wall. "That's it I'm locking you out of everything every tablet and auto compiler. No android will answer to you until you can access their classes yourself. Get out of my sight tonight you will consume 10 high grade pills and reach the array stage, or I will excommunicate you from the clan." His father Ralph Farron said. To be fair maybe Johnson had overstepped at least doll was still with him.

Doll was a tall small breasted Gyno model android a gift from his father on his 12th birthday. Like all Gyno models she had shapely hips like a human woman, a slim stomach, and a face sculpted by an expert of house Merc. Her skin was a kind of TPE reparable thanks to billions of tiny machines in her body. Beneath her skin was a layer of artificial muscle that contracted and relaxed through qi. She was to be an assassination unit. She was a failure. Her frame was too small to house even the smallest ACU (Artificial Cultivation Unit). Without a proper fitted ACU, she was deemed a failure. She wouldn't be able to reach the next village before her reserves ran out. There was research going into developing a qi theft unit, but stolen qi often wrecked a body's pathways. The artificial pathways within an android couldn't hold up. They weren't like silicon skin their designs and placement were far too delicate. Mere nano machines couldn't make such repairs without a compiler stage cultivator to guide them. That was the official story.

Unofficially the houses Saxon, Merc, and Dag, not to be confused from its father house Dagon which rules over Bright village to the north near Blackroot village, fear a revolt of their android slaves. Johnson knew the fear was ludicrous as every Farron man knew. The adroids were programmed to love and care for their human masters. They derived pleasure from following commands to the letter. Turning a page, he took the offered cup from Doll. She smiled at him happily as he took a sip of Sap. It was warm and fresh from the life tree.

Turning his eyes to the center of the village towering over the vast array of apartments, commercial buildings, and vast factories filled with tireless androids stood their life tree. The only source of moisture in the world. Well one of them. Every life tree was a source of moisture in the vast desert.

Some used distilleries to remove water from the sap and drink the pure water. Then often the remaining material was sent to a pill making factory. They say that the wealth of the golden capitol is so great they can bath in pure water. They don't have a life tree. Instead they sit on an ancient underground lake. It is said the gods have blessed them and water rains from the heavens. Their walls remain unbroken by any number of would be great monster. Well that's what they say.

It was time now he could sense it like he could before the bell rang in the mornings. He often woke up just before the ringing began. Johnson closed his book and sat it to the side to stand up and watch the bell.

Even from a park bench, he could see the great bell on one of the low hanging branches of the life tree. Its bronze color contrasted to the ash white bark of the great tree. The great sap pump continued to pull sap from the tree as everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the bell.

"Even after 25 years hearing it the great bell still fills me with pride." A man said.

He was a dark-haired man with pale paper white skin. His hair was uneven, and he wore a nobleman's robe from the north. On his robe was a badge signifying his 6th stage body cultivation level. The badge was silver and well-polished. This man was Caleb Saxon of house Saxon the 280th son of the house.

"It seems my father has given me another chance to prove myself." Johnson said.

"Ah, that's what another chance at a father's respect looks like. I'm glad to have lost mine a long time ago." Caleb said.

"Will you be here long? Perhaps after I don't die from the pills tonight, we could go to a theater or one of the colosseums?" Johnson asked. He looked at Caleb in a way one looked at their child hero. Caleb had been the one to encourage him to continue his chosen path even if it would lead nowhere.

"I may well have the time if you survive. What was the punishment again? Your brother Phil blasted the punishment all over Recordkeeper. Ten pills dedicated to mental cultivation that can be deadly. What if you have a block? I don't recall him giving you any black pills to clear any out." Caleb said.

"I will survive so enough about my failure. Tell me about the capitol is it everything they say it is. Does water fall from the sky? Did you meet any of the royal family?" One loud ring silenced all other sound followed by a crack and a crash.

Caleb's eyes turned distant. "I met some royalty, but they weren't what you would expect. They are part of the reason I'm here. But don't tell anyone. I want to speak to my father. What do you think about marriage?"

"Its archaic foolishness we cast out when we obtained our freedom. Don't let a member of the cult hear you speak about such things." Johnson said. What did the royal family have to do with marriage? Was his friend marrying into the ruling family in the capitol? Why? There are true immortals who would fight for the chance to join the ruling family. He clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "No matter what foolishness you're chasing after you can count on me." They were just words, but they did the trick. He saw a glimmer of hope in his friend's eyes.

Gong! Crash!

Johnson watched the bronze bell free fall as the tower that once held it for 2000 years collapsed. Down the bell fell along with the droids in the tower. Fire quickly filled the tower the ancient wood making the perfect kindling. The image was shaking only for Johnson to realize he was the one shaking. He looked over at Caleb who looked on his expression impossible to read.

Caleb shook him out of his stupor. "Get home John before the chaos starts. The tower is fully manned by androids. Something must be wrong with their programming." Caleb said. Johnson wanted to argue and defend his house's experts but there was little time.

Johnson turned from the crowd and ran. There were many benefits to pathway cultivation one the quick transport of vital energy to be turned into qi. He used one of the only body techniques he knew Gallant Horse. It was as basic as basic as basic could be. He pumped qi into his ankles and used their springing properties to rush home at horse like speeds. As a cultivator not even to the first stage of body cultivating, this technique was expensive. To Johnson it was still expensive, but he recovered his qi as fast as he used it.

Doll kept up with his pace easily. She was a tireless machine with more martial techniques than any human. She remained under his control because he closed her system to him. He was the sole provider of her qi . His qi naturally fought any other's who tried to alter her programming. Her battery could store 100 times as much qi as Johnson had and Johnson kept it topped off.

He rushed down the house path. A path dedicated to the village houses and forbidden to those not of a house. It was the ancient human's equivalent to a freeway. Thanks to the house path he was able to return to the Farron compound quickly.

Johnson crossed the high gate and closed it behind him. Many of House Farron had already gathered in the grounds before the gate. Conversations were in motion and his father Ralph Farron lead his family in all matters.

He was a powerful man 4th stage body cultivation, 2nd grade pathway cultivation, and 10th grade mind cultivation. He would undoubtedly move on to the immortal stages and leave mere mortal mind cultivation behind. Though his mind would become immortal, but his body would continue to age. Even a stage 4 body cultivator eventually died of old age.

His father stood an easy 6ft tall even dwarfed by a few of his brothers, uncles, and sons he looked like the man in charge. Everyone went to him; he didn't go to them. Though he appeared to be in his early forties, Ralph Farron was over a century old. Ralph Farron was broad of shoulder and could send any unruly members of their house to their knees with a flare of qi. His eyes traveled over to Johnson and gave him a hard stare. They said everything and nothing. Johnson merely nodded and concluded he wouldn't get anything from his father. If he was to find out anything it would be after the fact.

He made his way into their house and pulled out 10 high grade blue pills from his father's pill case. They were made from the sap of the life tree and designed to force vast amounts of vital energy into the body for cultivation. Johnson would either come out of this brain dead or a great deal smarter. At least his thought partitioning would become far more effective. Or he would die.

Would his father notice if Johnson used some of the pills to increase his pathways? Could the old man really tell the difference between stage five and six? Advancement would help him with the rest of the pills.

The pills themselves weren't meant to be consumed one after the other. These were raw pills made with a single shaving of their life tree's heart wood. This was the type of pill noble women in the less civilized villages gave to their husband's bastard children. It was a painful death given as a generous gift. Most thought that all blue pills were the same when it came to cultivation. Bigger pills with more vital energy were considered a good thing. Like the rare well in the desert to the south and between villages. Water was a good thing though many died from falling through the ground and drowned in those very wells.

These were the biggest pills Johnson had ever held in his hand. Each were as thick as a man's thumb and would go down like a stone. There was lube in the meditation room just for large pills like these.

He yanked some and covered his first pill in the stuff. In his hand was a sticky mess that could blow his pathways and leave him crippled for the rest of his life.

On the other hand, they could shoot his mental cultivation from stage one program to stage five function. With such a leap he could put his knowledge of his family's techniques to use. With his pathways he would become a spammer.

Doll closed the door to the meditation chamber and stood near the door on guard for any would be intruders. Her battery was fully charged giving her the strength of a 4th stage body cultivator while her databanks gave her the techniques of a seasoned assassin. Any would be interrupters would be dealt with. Johnson let out a sad chuckle.

His image greeted him in the mirror. This was his training room and he enjoyed a full body mirror. But the image in front of him was unrecognizable. The left side of his face was one large bruise from where his father hit him. His doppelganger reached up and pulled at the greyed edges of his sideburns. There were more marks on his youthful face than the bruise. He had fallen from favor and his brothers shunned and beat him for it. His ribs and thighs were bruised from where they encouraged him to do better.

He refused to use Doll to defend his person from family. Besides their personal battle droids would have ripped her to shreds. Despite her abilities she was still his doll not a true weapon of the family.

Before his father stripped him of access, Johnson had enjoyed a force of 12 battle droids each well over 8ft tall with their own ACU built in along with primary and secondary arms. Life in the Farron house was a luxury that he hadn't truly appreciated. Much of his life he took for granted.

He enjoyed his protection units but they didn't even come close to his enjoyment of the sex bots he kept in his room. Some nights he would enjoy them all night and sleep late in the evening. Father never had cause to suspect he had focused his attention on pathway cultivation. The family mind cultivation style or cyber cultivation as many called it was boring. The paths were planned out, he had learned them since leaving his natal vat.

Pathways were the circulatory system of qi. Body cultivation was the powerplant turning vital energy into qi, while mind cultivation directed everything. The three styles were interconnected and to be considered truly in the immortal realm, ascended, or etc. was to surpass stage 10 with all three. Each of the stages had different names dependent on where you were.

"Hey Doll, do you still have your vagina implant." Johnson asked.

"Indeed master, but I'm a failure as an assassin droid. I'm afraid I will be insufficient to kill Caleb Saxon to redeem your place in the family." Doll said in a solemn tone.

"Doll, I wasn't talking about your vagina so you could use it to assassinate my oldest friend. If I'm to do this suicidal demand of my father I want a reward afterwards." Jonson said with a what swagger he had.

One thing great about the isolation room. A man can say what he needs to say without ridicule or losing face in front of his family. He planned on swallowing these 10 pills and leaving this room with his sanity intact.

"Oh, but I'm yours why would you need my vagina. Are you going to use it for something?" For a second, he thought Doll was fucking with him. He might act stiff when he's in public but here alone in his meditation chamber. Johnson Farron did what Johnson Farron wanted.

He sat himself down on the ground and swallowed the sour lube covered pill. It made an indention in his throat as it went down. The second it hit his stomach he started breathing deeply and flaring his qi. The vital energy hit his stomach with the suddenness of an explosion. It was well over ten thousand times greater than a mere training pill. This was something customized and experimental.

Johnson stopped thinking and focused. He became like the freeway's in ancient times. If the vital energy wanted to go somewhere then he would let it run itself ragged. He pulled the wave through his pathways feeling his body reach stage one by accident. The shear amount of vital energy was ridiculous if he was a single stage lower his pathways would rupture followed by organ failure.

As his body reached the 1st stage of body cultivation he began to sweat rapidly feeling the toxins and cells that lost information upon mitosis were driven out. What cells could be enhanced were while he moved the majority of vital energy towards his brain.

There was a reason no one used this path to reach higher stages. There was a good chance he would end up braindead by the end of this. If he had a shred of sanity left by the end, he would be lucky.

Before the energy could hit his brain, he turned the majority away and let only a little into his mind. That energy reached him, and his mind went fuzzy as he steered the flow of vital energy back for another round. All the while the pill continued to dissolve throwing out an overflowing stream of vital energy. His body ached as his muscles cramped and his pours stung. Johnson was sure if he opened his eyes, he would see brown sludge escaping his pours.

He kept them closed and focused on the energy. It was a burst dam an ancient thing that held water back when their world had plenty of the stuff. It was funny what the mind came up with to compare situations with. He remembered his natal droid reading that to him. Back when he was a few years old. She was the one who cared for him until he was ready to learn the ways of men. Well him and 10 of his brothers.

There was too much vital energy he needed to get rid of some or his pathways would fill up completely with the raw stuff before bursting. Never use the word stuff if you must fill in an object use a variable. Shit came to mind this vital energy was a dammed shit burst forth and he had to dump some, or the entire sewer system would explode. He poured it in his pathways reinforcing the damaged places and using up the energy as best he could. Another wave to his mind made him go fuzzy again and some of the flow left his control.

Just as every corner of his pathways filled to the brim the flow stopped and the pressure leveled. All the remaining vital energy was in his pathways. He stopped cycling and let out a breath. His mind was at the 2nd stage loop. The power to replicate a variable infinitely or until qi ran dry. At this stage if he knew a technique to throw a fireball, he could toss them until his qi ran dry. After using the technique one time. He wouldn't have to remain in the same spot either. If he fed the phenomenon enough qi it would keep firing in the same place.

This was its decision-making time. The energy was contained and ready to go somewhere but no pressure. He was close to stage six with his pathways but far from stage 2 with body cultivation and further from stage 3 with cyber cultivation. His mine was starting to become less fuzzy.

The world went black and white for a second revealing the room's true nature. The room was a closed circuit. There was no accessing the networks on the outside in this room. Black spider webs of qi stretched from the door holding world out of the room.

Johnson looked over at Doll. She wanted to be an assassin badly. Well it was what she was meant to do. AI wanted to fulfill their programming it was in their nature. Humans didn't have a set programming man of Scale especially didn't anymore. We had ascended beyond our biology and cast down the shackles of human beings. But that was debate for another time. Preferably between a cult compiler chaplain and a Meccanite. That was always fun. His head was dizzy.

He forced the vital energy into his pathways. This was his life and he wasn't living it for his father.


	3. Chapter 2

Once upon a time Johnson had been below the notice of his father. Johnson had a choice to make. Should he follow the beaten path and focus all his attention on his mind or forge his own destiny with pathways. There were consequences for his actions. If his father ever found out he would be penalized for wasting family resources. As a man of house Farron, he could go his own way and leave the resources of the house behind. It wasn't greed that drove him down the unconquered path. He desired one thing guaranteed to all children in Scale village freedom. He would use his brother's progress with cyber cultivation and match it with his own pathway cultivation.

A pile of notebooks rested on a wooden desk in his workshop. Each were worn out from countless nights scribbling. Pages were color coated with expensive dyes. Books made of paper were expensive too expensive for any but a member of a clan. They were the only place to store his knowledge that couldn't be hacked.

"So, you store your sins in these." Caleb Saxon said in a seemingly disinterested voice. "Why hide them here out in the open instead of on one of your many hard drives? Surely a closed system is safe." Caleb said.

"Mayhap I'm vain, I see myself as one of the ancients scribbling the foundation of cyber cultivation. Though in those days there was no name for the ancient martial power." Johnson provided. "I heard you were leaving soon." He saw Caleb as the ideal man of a house. His red hair was cut short and his face clean shaven. As a 3rd stage body cultivator of the Iron Monger style he was practically made of steel. There was hardly any fat on his friend's body despite his wealthy upbringing. He was lean and broad of shoulder. An Iron Monger body cultivator's strength was in their defensive powers.

"All it would take would be an overly curious servant droid. Then all your hiding would be in vain. That would surely end your delusions of matching your ancient ancestors. Have you begun creating forms for your pathway cultivation?" Did he want a demonstration?

Johnson moved opening his mouth wide and reaching out his hands to either side. The effects were swift. His qi swirled through his 2nd stage pathways pulling hard on the vital energy in the air. Soon every bit of vital energy in the workshop was drawn into Johnson's pathways and was immediately taken to be processed into qi. Suddenly the workshop was a place devoid of vital energy. A rarity said to only happen near powerful monsters.

For a moment Caleb looked around marveling at what Johnson had accomplished before a swift tap form him knocked Johnson's breath away. Johnson lost focus and vital energy swept into the area quickly filling the gap.

Johnson focused back on Caleb letting his pathways relax. Mimicking a powerful monster wasn't easy, he didn't know how they kept up the process passively.

"Don't do that in front of anyone but me. If your father saw that he would know you weren't cultivating your family's style. I still don't understand why you don't try both." Johnson caught his breath and eased himself up off the ground.

"I'm terrible at body cultivation and the mind arts are so easy, I can advance them at any time. Once I'm 18 my father will let me go see the world. If I master pathway cultivation it will make the other two types much easier. Mayhap I will go out and learn multiple styles. Are you leaving soon?" Johnson asked his friend again.

"Don't get caught John even I get warry when you blank out a spot. We Saxon's are trained to notice areas of Null. There are occasionally monster infiltrators." Then his friend pulled out a chair and sat down. "As for my leaving I'll be gone by morning. I came to say goodbye. There is a chance I could die out there or meat a flesh and blood girl. Maybe I will shack up with a monster and become a shame to my house. I can already hear my father curse my birth."

Johnson looked down at his collection of diaries. They were physical things worth a lot. Well they were to him. On his desk was a book he wrote instructing a beginner on the ways of pathway cultivation. It included all his failings, traps, and how he rose above his limits. It was the history of his effort and priceless. He picked it up and handed it to Caleb. "Here take it maybe you'll learn something."

"John I can't take this." Caleb said and quickly read through some of the pages. "It contains the secrets to your cultivation. It belongs to the Farron family."

"I wrote it and your more of a brother to me than my actual brothers. Mayhap that is a product of my own secrets. Either way take it my friend either use it to start your own pathway cultivation or trade it in a time of need. Its yours." Johnson said. Caleb scrambled out of his chair and bowed lowly.

"This is truly a splendid gift. I will cherish it on my travels." Caleb said.

Johnson opened his eyes briefly seeing Doll watching the door as his pathways ached like he'd never felt before. That's right he had given Caleb a gift before his friend left and even called him brother. It seemed the mental cultivation was already assisting his memory. Caleb was his dearest friend and that didn't change the fact his friend was making a terrible mistake.

Marriage into one of the royal houses. That never ends well for a Farron and he doubted the Saxons had better luck. This was a plot of some sort and his friend would pay for it. Before he could stick his nose in his friend's business, he needed to finish this.

Nine pills remained, and it was time to bring his pathways to the next level. To build a new grander road the former road had to be destroyed. A practice he had started since the 3rd stage. One could only shore up the cracks and fill potholes for so long. The dull ach from his pathways were about to get much worse.

His qi was moved by his mind. Cultivating his mind to the next level had boosted his mental partitioning by a magnitude. Before he couldn't divide his mental efforts in two without an ill effect. That was stage 1 at the lowest level. By reaching stage 2 he could partition 10 times as much. In a sense he could divide a problem into 10 parts and work those parts simultaneously. The most common use of the ability was passive techniques. He could direct a stream of thought to maintain his monstrous vital energy absorption. That would free up his actual conscious mind for 9 other passive techniques.

Right now, he needed to destroy his current pathways a little at a time and rebuild them better than before. All the while, he needed to keep a tight hold on his qi. One misstep and he could ruin any chance at cultivating further. Goodbye immortality.

He began by making a pipeline that carried vital energy away from his normal pathways. There was no reason to force his pathways to manipulate both qi and vital energy. In many pathway cultivation tomes, the meridians are set in stone they are a constant. Because they are constant, they can only be strengthened or repaired never remade. It wasn't until he was stuck with a massive blockage that he realized he could make new pathways. By cutting the flow of energy to a part of his meridians and guiding his qi through creating another path, he was able to remove blockages. Once a pathway was removed qi could be used to transfer the dead pathways to be processed into qi.

Vital energy wanted to follow the path of least resistance and the body wanted to turn vital energy into qi. Qi could be directed by the mind. Qi was not a danger to his pathways. He could direct it passively with of his streams of thought.

This meant that when he absorbed vital energy through his stomach or lungs, he needed to transfer it to be cycled through his body. In a sense he needed to make a channel lock for his pathways. A trick he had mastered in his fourth stage. Though never had he redesigned his system completely. There was normally a remnant of the old system.

It took him a few hours to finish up the boring work of converting his old pathway system to the new one. This new system was built to take in vast amounts of vital energy and convert it at an efficient pace. As it was added a lock cut the flow of vital energy into manageable chunks to be converted to qi quickly.

When completed, he felt his pathways evolve from stage 5 to stage 6. The change was sudden. His pathways took to the new system and stabilized. The vital energy trapped in his pathways flowed through him as he cycled converting at an incredible rate. He had turned himself into a qi producing machine.

He stood up and looked himself over in the mirror again. His body looked terrible. Brown sludge smeared his skin and his body had become skinny. Most of the fat had burned away to feed his growing musculature. Still it wasn't enough to make him handsome like Caleb. He would need a lot more than a single stage of body cultivation to achieve such a feat.

"You look terrible." Doll said.

"Thank you, I feel terrible." Johnson said.

"Then you should fulfil your purpose while you can. Not everyone can execute their programming." Doll said in a bitter tone. Johnson swallowed another pill and felt himself focus on his new pathways.

It didn't take long before he returned to cycling breathing deeply as his pathways took in the massive vital energy the pill provided. This time there was hardly any strain. He had rebuilt his pathways to handle large quantities of vital energy. Every time the pressure seemed to become too much the lock turned dumping out a new payload of vital energy for his body to change into qi. This new qi he fed to his mental cultivation.

Everyone had a different personification of their mental cultivation. Some saw it as hardware. Others as a massive brain that they make larger. For the Farron they saw it as a complicated program with a multitude of files and functions working together to form something greater than their parts. Johnson was no different. He adjusted his program using the ludicrous amount of qi provided by the pill. Months' worth of vital energy was converted into qi and used to rewrite his mental cultivation.

Not only did he have loops in his mental cultivation he added arrays. Now he could store data in multiple points using far more data. In an instant he created a simple system to allow him greater access to his body, pathways, and mind.

Qi Allocation System Initializing

3

2

1

Cstyle++: Mind stage 3 Array qi required next 50,000

NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000

EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 2,000,000

Vital energy units 5000 of 5,000,000

Qi units 100,000 of 1,000,000

The system was simple for now. His brothers had their systems, his uncles had theirs, and his father had one of his own. The creation of a system was something he shouldn't have put off. A system allowed a cyber cultivator to keep track of their progress and advance much more quickly in all fields. Still certain steps in cultivation took years. Then there was the fact that if you didn't know how to use an array or loop to improve upon your cultivation it could kill you. Aneurisms were common among mental cultivators. Just as blood clots were common among meridian cultivators and cancer body cultivators.

Since he was on a roll, he called upon the vector class and used them as he rewrote the code in his mind. He used up 50,000 units of qi in his first attempt. Johnson wasn't the best with vectors. He quickly added pointers and references to ease up on the stream of consciousness cost. When it was all said and done, he had a horrible headache and nearly 1000 streams of consciousness. Though 90% of those were holding his system together.

He felt a warm hand wipe the blood off his face. "Doll what's wrong?"

"You're bleeding, I don't think you will die but it isn't good." He looked at her and felt his qi within her. It made her his more than anything.

"Thank you, I'm a mess." He nearly said mayhap. It was a word he tried to stop saying. Ever since he started reading old works of fantasy mayhap found its way into his everyday language. "Perhaps, I should purchase a day at the cleaners just the two of us. I'm sure you could use a touch up on oils."

"If that is your wish then, I will go be cleaned with you." She said neutrally. The rag smelled of petroleum jelly. An oil that most androids had to rub themselves with daily to take care of their skin.

Cstyle++: mind stage 4 1,000,000 to next

Qi units 12,000 of 1,000,000

It was the difference between 4 and 5. Accessing the fifth stage allowed a member of house Farron access to changing variables. Even constant ones like those that sealed him in here. With this single advancement he could finally reclaim all the technology lost to him. But he still had 8 pills. Did he grab the wrong ones? Where they meant to kill him instead of teaching him a hard lesson? Well he wasn't a cowardly like those of the Merc house. He would use them all or die trying.

He needed to create ten different functions for this last step and bind them together to complete stage 5. That was one reason why the jump from stage 4 to 5 was so expensive.

Johnson swallowed the next pill shortly after shutting himself off from his desires. The raw vital energy hit his system ever greater than before. It seemed the pills weren't equal not by a long shot. Still his pathways were remade for this type of pill. His channel locks worked dumping only as much vital energy as his qi could handle into this system. As his qi grew, he could take on more vital energy at a time. His pathways adapted quickly advancing slightly to stage 7 on their own. Though they were no more than a 100th the way there.

Qi units 550,000 of 1,000,000

VEU (Vital Energy Units) 0, of 5,000,000

Slowly he made five functions. He was meticulous in their creation ensuring that each would fit, and their variables would change in value as needed. He began adding a connection to his body. With enough effort he should be able to construct a qi shield to protect his body always. This new system would determine how much damage his qi shield could take. It would also determine a meaning for force.

"Doll this is about to get dangerous. Do you think you can get out of here if I die?" Johnson asked.

"What's the point? I will never be an assassin. My creators saw to that." She replied bitterly. There was little competition to the Saxons. They saw no reason to further their hardware development. Another reason the hate the Saxons. They had no competition. Farron had 9 different competitors in Scale village alone. Freon, Oni, and Fenrir to name three. They were software and mental cultivators as well some where descendant houses of Farron while others were made of immigrants. To stay above those houses Farron had to be the best. His house couldn't afford to slack off or they would be left behind.

That's why his father couldn't stand slacking even from a 309th son. If you were a part of Farron then you earned your place. He took another pill feeling it process more swiftly than the others. It was only worth 300,000 qi units. He made 3 more functions and took another pill. This pill was worth 600,000 units and nearly wrecked him. He had to return to meditating.

His breathing picked up as he processed the strongest pill yet. With over half a million units of qi in his body he made the last two function. Then he began merging them with his main function. At this point an error could kill him. His head throbbed constantly from the former 3 stages he entered. His mind was supporting 1000 streams of consciousness an was about to hand 9000 more.

Everything was hooked up and he couldn't see any errors yet. If he had his tablet, Johnson could have compiled it and checked for errors. But as he was, he couldn't hope to check a thing. When this was over, he should visit the cult Compiler and pray.

Slowly his mind checked the program. If even a piece of it was out of place an effort would cause a massive aneurism and kill him. He continued breathing as it took 3 minutes for the code to finish.

SOC (Streams of Consciousness) 100 of 10,000

System requirement 75% SOC

Qi Barrier 4000 of 4000 10% SOC lv1 – uses 1% of qi as a barrier. Once barrier is completed meditation is needed to restore it.

Skill Passive Cultivation +50 VEU/s 14% SOC lv1 – Absorb a small amount of vital energy constantly.

Cstyle++: Mind stage 5 Function qi required next 10,000,000

NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000

EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 200,000,000

Vital energy units 50 of 5,000,000

Qi units 400,000 of 1,000,000

It was a sloppy if functional system. He had no attributes like most of his family enjoyed and no way of stealing his enemy's qi upon their death. Nor did he have an AI built into his skills to slowly improve upon them with every use. For those AI he would have to journey down below to his family vaults and integrate the code with his own.

He altered the variables to access the isolation room's door. With a new password he opened the door and relaxed when fresh air greeted him. He turned a corner when a sex bot jumped him from behind. Johnson felt her soft tits against his worn skin and her hands tighten around his throat. Powerful hands closed around his neck sealing his windpipe. Johnson slammed his back against a wall and fought in vain to access the code of his attacker. He thrust his qi inside of her only for it to be forced out. Much like his father's had with doll.

He fell to a knee when Doll made her move. She pulled the head off the sex bot then reached in to crush the qi battery within. With no power source the sex bot's body dropped like a ton of bricks dragging Johnson with it to the ground. He lay there as oils oozed out of the rebellious android.

"I don't believe it Doll my family tried to have me killed." Johnson said.

"Didn't they try with the pills already. This should be the next step." Doll said in a matter of fact tone. The sky is a light green, the grass is a light yellow, and sap was sweet.

"My father would have just killed me himself. No this wasn't sanctioned. We need to find my father."

"It looks like I may be able to assassinate someone after all." Doll said in a voice filled with hope.


	4. Chapter 3

His world was shattered. AI can't betray them; it goes against their programming. Johnson slammed his body against a wall feeling the cold stone on his back. Doll said something but he couldn't hear her. Holding out his hands they were covered in a blood like red fluid. "Its to discourage idiots from harming our gynoids when they're in the field." A solemn voice said over the intercom. He looked up to see a single red eye on him. One of the many cameras belonging to Leroy the house AI. Leroy was the eye of father and the house manager. He looked after all the house robots and ensured that they were repaired often.

"Hey Leroy, is there a message from father?" Johnson asked asked snapping out of his reverie. There was no time to be soft not now not here. He could spill his guts to Doll or Caleb when this mess was over.

"No, your father is far too busy deactivating and reprogramming the battle droids to worry about inner house affairs. That job has been left to me." Leroy said. The eye flashed in pride.

"When I tried to hack the gynoid earlier there was another qi within it keeping me out. It was," Johnson closed his eyes. He remembered the animalistic hunger and madness within the qi. A fingerprint of whoever the qi belonged to. "Not human. I don't know what this creature is but the effect it has on the androids isn't its intention."

He had to look at the clues to find out how this new enemy's technique worked. There is always a point of infiltration. Doll wasn't infected. But was that because of their isolation or because of their closed system. She didn't absorb vital energy directly or qi for that matter. How was the qi not destroying the artificial pathways instead of altering programming? Think damn it.

"Leroy do you absorb vital energy or does father refill your battery?"

"Sir, I've been powered by what you could call a nuclear power cell for nearly 300 years. Those who function with qi can be accessed easily. The only way to control me is to access my terminal in your father's office. Unfortunately, this also makes me incapable of taking control of the androids who gave into rampancy." That crushed what evidence he had supporting his theory. Now he had only Doll to go by. She had a powerful battery. One filled with his qi.

"Does that mean there's a nuclear powerplant somewhere in the mansion!" The thought of a nuclear explosion tearing through the village leaving behind a glassed hole wouldn't leave him.

"Sir, we've gone off topic. I contacted you because the reinforced door protecting the survivors in natal care won't last long." Johnson's eyes widened. It had slipped his mind. How could he have been so stupid? The future of their house was in danger. If they died, then a whole generation of Farron would vanish.

"What can I do? I have no battle programs and Doll is only one assassin droid." That wasn't all his problems either. He wasn't a combat specialist in the least.

"You are stage 5 in cyber cultivation, stage 1 in body cultivation, and stage 6 in pathway cultivation. I'm certain that you can quickly grow used to a mystic art of the energy type. Though you will always be an energy type after you acquire it. Your neutral typing will vanish." That was one of the problems with cultivation. You eventually had to pick a side if you wanted power. Energy was weak against Stone, Wind, and could be redirected with metal. While a pure or neutral was equally deadly against everything. His father was neutral and the strongest in his generation.

"Turn a corner and you will find your brother Samson dead, but his Auto Compiler is still logged in. You can gain the AI he was working on and with it a mystic technique." Johnson looked back at the broken sex bot. The gynoid was twitching with what power was left in her circuits. If she still had a battery, she would have reattached her head. The nanites within her would have slowly repaired the damage.

He took a step around the corner to his brother's workshop. The fingerprint scanner on the door was red. Johnson placed his hand against it, but it read denied. Going back, he grabbed the sex bot and dragged her hand to the scanner. The light flashed green and the door opened.

Samson was in bed his cock out and a look of utter shock on his face. His body was bound to the bed and the purple handprints from a gynoid model sex bot were around his throat. Johnson pulled the covers over his brother's body. Taking a pair of keys on the bed table he unlocked his brother's arms and feet.

"How many more of brothers will I find like this?" Johnson asked. He picked up the compiler. It was a portable model but still powerful. The only part that came from the Saxon's was the screen. The rest his brother had made himself. Using his qi, he connected himself to the open access of the compiler and downloaded the mystic technique Energy Beam.

With the download, he felt the AI join with his programming and adjust his code to house it better. Some lines were reworked while others were tossed aside in favor of better code. "Hello there, I'm designated quickQi you have copied me into your system are you perhaps my creator." quickQi the AI said. The message popped up in the corner of his eye was annoying but the freed of SOCs were a god send. He had nearly 2000 at his disposal now.

He felt qi dragged from his pathways without his permission and forced into his cells. Johnson froze as the process completed in moments. "I'm not your creator but you knew that didn't you. He gave a copy of you to me for testing. We have a lot to do."

**Cstyle++: Mind stage 5 Function qi required next 10,000,000**

**NStyle: Body stage 1 body cleansing qi required next 5000**

**EStyle: Pathways Stage 6 Redundancy qi required next 200,000,000**

**Vital energy units 90,000 of 5,000,000**

**Qi units 400,000 of 1,000,000**

**SOC (Streams of Consciousness) 2000 of 10,000**

**System requirement 50% SOC**

**Qi Barrier 4000 of 4000 10% SOC lv1 – uses 1% of qi as a barrier. Once barrier is completed meditation is needed to restore it. **

**Skill Passive Cultivation +50 VEU/s 10% SOC lv1 – Absorb a small amount of vital energy constantly. **

**Skill Passive qi Saturation +10% qi storage 1%SOC lv1 – Use the Polysaccharide of every cell to store a small amount of qi. **

**Skill Passive qi cell wall +50 Defense SOC 8% lv1 – Create a primitive cell wall out of qi to protect cells from danger. **

**Skill passive qi enhance +10% to physical stats 10% SOC lv1 – Enhance the mitochondria of cells with qi. **

**Skill Active: Energy Beam 15% SOC when active damage unknown lv1 – A beam of concentrated qi transformed into a destructive energy. **

His body felt alien to him. With all these new abilities, he hoped he would fuck things up. With the elevator shut down he made his way to the stairs. Doll continued behind him as his shadow while the red eye of Leroy continued to watch. The AI went into the background focusing on his job.

He made it to the bottom of the stair to see the body of another of his brothers. He had fallen with the charred metal slag of two battle droids. The fall hadn't killed his brother. It was the bullet holes in his bodies from the droid's primary arms. HIs brother was unrecognizable.

"I didn't know him there are so many of us could you blame me for not knowing one of my brothers." He asked.

"His name was Brian. I didn't know this master either but I'm sure he would be proud his sacrifice wasn't in vain. You will save your younger brothers." Doll said. Johnson nodded and slowly opened the door.

Doll pulled one of the undamaged secondary arms from a battle droid. It was a grenade launcher of some model with four rounds left. "The grenades are still good." Doll said.

He opened the door without a sound while he tried to stay low to the ground. The door was old, but it had been oiled regularly by the servant droids. Nata droids were designed with acute hearing to better care for children and hear their cries.

Blood dripped on the floor from the ceiling and walls. Gore had repainted the room in a hideously macabre fashion. With blues, reds, and black the natal droids had repainted their domain in their madness. Skulls were stacked in neat piles while the gore had been spread to evenly cover the soft blue that the walls once had. Rib cages were lain broken and torn while organs were pulped tossed about on the floor. Leaving only a single undamaged child in the only spot free of gore.

Johnson's eyes widened at the room. Bodies were torn apart. The skulls of children were smashed against walls and torn apart. In the center of the room was a single child quietly shaking. The boy might have been eight. Tears and snot covered his face as he shook silently surrounded by the broken bodies of his siblings. This was a trap.

His brother was right there but he couldn't save him. He couldn't save him and the children safe behind one of the panic room doors. These natal droids had retained a measure of intelligence. If it was one at a time, he might be able to kill them while Doll distracted them. Their best bet would be a fighting retreat but they're faster than him.

His decision was stolen from when one of the natal droids turned a corner and charged them with a meat cleaver in hand. She moved with inhuman speed crossing the 13 meters between them in nearly an instant. Doll moved grabbing the hand with the cleaver and kicking out a leg. The natal droid looked at Doll in confusion.

Johnson moved out of his frozen shocked position and powered up energy beam between his palms. 1500 streams of consciousness went into transforming neutral qi into a volatile kind of energy. He stood over the creature and felt his qi drain as a beam of energy the size of a fist slammed into the natal droid's chest. The technique punched through silicon flesh and metal frying important equipment within the natal droid's chest.

He took a step back and felt his body convulse uncontrollably. That had been his first experience in battle. "Doll how did I do?"

"You froze don't do that next time." Doll said easily. "I'm glad you unfroze."

A door opened leading deeper in the natal floor. It just opened by itself. "What are they planning Doll?" Johnson asked his own mind going blank while his body recovered from the technique.

He continued to shake. As she opened her mouth. "They mean to let us into a trap. There are no lights in that room and natal droids are equipped with night vision. A basic but effective plan." She picked up the cleaver and cocked a grenade in the chamber of her launcher. She pointed it at the doorway and fired. Boom!

Part of the wall exploded, and Doll cocked another grenade in the launcher. "Easy with the launcher we don't want the house falling on our heads." Johnson yelled through his ringing ears. Holes in the wall helped illuminate the room as the natal droids rushed them. All Johnson could do was back peddle as a meat cleaver nearly cut through his throat. Doll was in the fight using her superior combat doctrines to maneuver the droids away from him.

It became a deadly dance as a hammer, meat cleaver, and a piano wire attempted to capture the agile Doll. Johnson could feel his qi slowly grow as he cycled through the tainted qi of the gynoid he killed. After that brush with death, he wanted to avenge himself.

If he rushed in, he knew he would get in the way and possibly die. So, he studied the fight. He grew used to the flow of battle between the combatants but saw one moving in to disrupt the flow and ambush Doll from behind. Johnson quickly charged up another energy beam feeling the crackling energy flow through his body. The shaking grew worse as he pushed his hands forward and fired the beam. Blue light filled the air as the beam cut through the air and smashed into the natal droid. Johnson held it for a few seconds as it ripped through the chest of the gynoid and the lights went out of her eyes.

Doll use the distraction of the energy beam and slashed through two of her adversaries' throats spilling blue fluids all over the ground. Natal droids had no use for the expensive red dye fluids found in most gynoids. With the lack of fluids, the nanite chains within the gynoids couldn't send and receive messages at their normal rate. Given time they could stop the flow of fluid and began making more. But as it was now their movements began to slow.

Doll leapt out of the way as Johnson charged up and unleashed another energy beam. He felt his legs shake as they grew ready to give out. His body began to sweat heavily like he was rejecting this technique at his core. He held the beam until both droids were dead to the world. Doll with only one opponent used the hammer and cleaver in tandem smashing and cleaving apart her last opponent.

Energy Beam lv2 active skill 14.5% SOC 2000qi per second damage 1.5 x qi used– Your body has begun to adapt to the energy intensive technique and more information has been gathered. quickQi report: This technique is dangerous to the user your body is adapting quickly but energy type techniques are dangerous unless trained. It is recommended that the user begins practicing qi to energy transformation exercises.

** New skill passive: Energy Transformation 5% SOC -5% SOC cost for energy – Your SOCs have grown better at transforming qi into energy. The more they practice the better they will get. **

There is a reason why hardly anyone useed energy. Its volatile and dangerous. It can't be used to enhance the body except through a few rare rituals. Those who know of those rituals aren't likely to reveal them to an outsider from another clan. Then again it was one of the most destructive types out there. It was considered a true offensive type along with wind, fire, and destruction. The last one is just rumored to exist.

Doll glared at the blue fluid that covered her body. Her expression was alien and unreadable. The dress itself was battered and torn from a few near hits from the natal droids. "Let's get moving we have children to rescue." He looked over to Leroy's eyes and saw the damaged speaker. That's why Leroy wasn't warning them about ambushes. With no qi the house AI couldn't link up with him or send him messages. He felt it was for the best.

There was only one more room between them and the children. If this was a dungeon the next room would contain the boss. Johnson chuckled at that. He really needed to get out of here and meditate this day away.

The next doors they saw were covered in body parts stabbed into the door. Some of the wooden frame had children's teeth in them. They had been dragged through here bound and tried to hold on to the frame with their teeth. It hadn't mattered. Besides a few splattered bodies the children were dragged through here.

He turned the knob and came upon a blood splattered room. Several natal droids were stitched together with the bodies of the children with them. The children were still alive crying as blue fluids mixed with their blood traveling through multiple systems. Somehow the children hadn't died of shock or rejection.

One of the natal droids was in the center with all the others attached to it. Between her breasts was a child his body sunk into her and covered in tumorous growths. Her arms were stitching machines of some make he didn't recognize. When she saw him, she laughed? He recognized her as Gloria his own natal droid.

"Johnson you made it here, I had expected your father. Have you come to such on my breasts?" She pushed her naked swollen breasts up causing the child between them to scream in agony. Blood leaked from them instead of the artificial milk they used to. "Ah I remember when you suckled from me like many before you. I read you stories and filled you with hope. But you became a disappointment like many others. Only pain breeds strength." She slammed her hand against the child, and he squealed before going silent. "That's better. Such sniveling is unbecoming of house Farron."

"You are rampant. I'm going to put you down Gloria." Johnson choked out. This natal droid had indeed read him stories at night, and it was her breasts he suckled from. Before he was weaned and taken to the upper levels to become a man he was here. If a man of Farron had a mother, it was their Natal droid.

"Your eyes have changed. They hold the strength that a Farron should have. Maybe I will give that look to the children in that room. If they don't dishonor themselves with weakness." The child between her breast sunk into the cancerous growth and screamed as a grinding sound carried through the room. Gloria gripped her breast as gore squeezed from her nipples and she moaned. "Yesss this is what strength feels like. You have no idea what its like to become a part of me. But you will soon." Boom!

Doll shot a grenade from the launcher and it exploded in the center of mass of all the natal droids. A hole opened in their flesh and Johnson knew this was his chance he thrust his hands forward and unleashed his energy beam. The blue beam tore into the monster but then the monster tore away from the beam and charged against one of the nearby walls. It tore through it as another two children screamed and that horrible grinding noise echoed out.

"We have to chase it down and finish the job." Johnson said and doll nodded. She had only two grenades left, and she would have to make them count.

"There are no more children left for it to absorb, so we should be able to wear it down. Don't get close to it." Doll said as she charged after it grenade launcher at the ready. Johnson followed her determined to end it.

They went to the next room to see monstrous metal spider legs burst from the monster's body. The natal droids moaned in ecstasy while the children attached to the monster just screamed. Johnson realized what it was doing. It was racing towards the stairs. It was going to climb them up and attack his brothers. His fully-grown brothers and absorb them. With their cultivation added to its own it would grow ever stronger. The mutated flesh around its body was beginning to form a spider's exoskeleton around the creature's body. It looked metallic. The natal droids within it began to crawl out connected by worm like bodies. One launched itself at Johnson arms outstretched and mouth opening obscenely wide. He could see its throat, down its esophagus, and to the meat grinder within.

Doll pushed him out of the way pushed her launcher forward. Before she could pull the trigger the natal droid bit down severing Doll's arm. They heard the gun and doll's arm enter the meat grinder. Only for that gynoid to be ejected from the main body before the grenade went off. They were all thrown back. Doll was losing a lot of fluids applying pressure to her stump to keep from losing all her fluids.

There was no choice now. Johnson new he had to either buck up and end this or die. He had plenty of power and that metallic exoskeleton was missing a chunk inside it. An energy beam charged up and fired from between his hands. Johnson doubled it hitting the inside of the monster. It was about to move when Doll took her arm off her stump and threw the last grenade with such force that it went off when it hit the ceiling. Rubble fell from the ceiling on top of the monster.

Johnson approached Gloria as she struggled. When he approached, she grabbed ahold of her chest and opened it up revealing a vagina like entrance. From the urethra a green jet of liquid shot out. He dodged barely and it melted the nearby floor evaporating in seconds. Three inches of stone was gone with the acid.

"Jump in me and be reborn as something stronger. You know you are weak and unwelcome among your family. That mark on your face is proof of it. Let me be a mother to you like you always wanted." Gloria pleaded.

"I became a man a long time ago Mother Gloria. Men don't need their mothers. That's why we are men. For my brothers my real family die." She shrieked and leapt at him to force him inside her. The rubble stopped her from getting too far. He showed her his palm and blue crackling energy shot from his hand through her beautiful face. He watched it melt away revealing a metal face plate, her eyes turned red before cracking and shattering, and then the metal melted away and the head was gone. Still the monster struggled. Nanites moved slowly remaking the head. He pushed the energy against the tunnel leading deeper in the monster and continued firing until the monster stopped moving.

His body was shaking, he was out of qi and making more was slow. Ripping off a piece of his shirt he tied it tight around Doll's stump. She looked at him bleary eyed. Many of her functions weren't working. "Is it dead." Johnson nodded. "Good."


	5. Chapter 4

This chapter contains a lemon at the end. If you don't want to read it just skip to the last two paragraphs.

He awoke in a comfortable bed with a woman's mouth around his cock. Johnson struggled to move but some unseen force kept him there. The woman rose and smiled revealing a mouth of perfect teeth. Her lips were thick and painted ruby red paired with her dusky brown skin. Her hair was black and looped upwards in an elaborate braided style. Wrapped around her was a loose fitted white silk gown. She was beautiful and exotic. She was powerful. His measly cultivation was nothing to hers. She was beyond immortal, beyond the average god, and beyond anything he's heard of. This made no sense how did he get here? Johnson groaned as she continued to work him over.

Just as she shoved his cock down her throat and began to move. Before his heart began its beating march towards satisfaction. And just as his mushroom swelled to its full mast she pulled away. There was a flicker of amusement in her eyes as she licked her lips. His heart was pounding, his body was sweating, and he wanted her.

His hand gripped the bed and he struggled to regain control. "If you were going to stop then why bother?" He groaned out. His mind was flustered with need and knew she was trying to play him.

"It's how I always begin negotiations with my champions." She said and fluttered her eyes at him. Her soft brown eyes seemed to suck him in as surely as the slit in her gown attracted his eyes to her cleavage. Both were tricks to throw him off balance during the negotiation. She had no clue who she was dealing with. He would show this goddess how a man of house Farron negotiated with women.

"A woman commanded a man to attend her showing her bust and promising favors. She never got to the question. All night they busied themselves with a game of can and mouse. When morning arrived, the man left, and the woman was left wanting." Johnson finished. She blinked at him in confusion for a moment and opened her mouth in an O. Her thick lips made the impression pressing upon his desire. Only half remembered lessons in etiquette stayed his dick.

"Very well I shall get to the point. I want you to spread my name to all the people of your world. In exchange, I will grant you access to my moon grasping body cultivation style up to the 5th stage of immortality." She said.

"A woman confesses her eternal love for a man and promises him a dowry of ten-thousand sheep. The moon and pine and when they go to the alter neither know the others name." Johnson said. He was getting into the swing of this conversing with women thing. He didn't know why Caleb wrote of difficulty.

She taps her chin smiling from ear to ear. He noticed a small freckle on one of her ears. A blemish to her divine beauty. It was forgivable. She wasn't a perfect specimen of Scale village craftsmanship. The Merc house experts hadn't crafted her form.

"You make conversing so much fun. Most do moon and pine over me. My name is Selene and I've divined your name to be Johnson Farron. I believe my dowry as you call it to be more than fair." She said with a pout that would be adorable if not for the slightest crack in her lip. Unnoticeable, perhaps to a mere cultivator. Yet, as a cultivator of Farron, he was taught to observe with higher standards. He would have sent her face back to be remade.

Fair! "A man tells a farmer that he must surely worship his cows. He feeds them when they are hungry, heals them when they are sick, and pulls the calves from them when they are having difficulties. Surely, they are the master of you farmer. The farmer points far off to the slaughterhouse and the many butchers sharpening their knives. The farmer turned a profit while the cows he had taken care of for so long were butchered and sold off. Their pelts made into rugs, and their guts turned to dogfood." Johnson finished. She smiled and tossed her robe behind showing her breasts in full and then widened his knees to show him what lay between her legs. A clinical side of him resisted while his hormones demanded he mount her.

"For a mere five in mortal mental cultivation your resistance is divine. Zeus was never able to resist my charms. I suppose that's why Hera had me imprisoned here for all time. Then they died slain by the Christian god's Satan. I stopped receiving prayers a long time ago and devoted myself to martial skills. Here in my realm of dreams of the moon. We are surely the cow and the master. I want to raise your people to worship me and die for me. I want to consume your souls filled with love for me. But you I want you as my loyal dog. They farmer never eats their dog." Selene assured. She made no move to adjust her breasts. They defied gravity and logic large and perky without a hint of sag. Upon her mocha breast were dark nipples slowly rising as they spoke. There was a hint of arousal filling the room. It fogged his mind. As a body stage 1 cultivator he had little control or resistance.

"A farmer believes he has enough food for winter. He laughs as his neighbors flee to the city. The farmer boasts of his hefty stores of meat and grain. The logs he has prepared to keep him warm and the shaggy dog at his side. When the storm hits the grain is ruined, his meat is iced over burnt from the cold. He hungers and, in the cold, his warm dog seems to be the perfect meal. His neighbors return to find him dead and only the skeleton of his dog remains." Johnson finished. Once more she pouted. Bringing a hand to her breast she brought it up to her full lips and sucked gently on her nipple. Her eyes flashed onto him as he fought against his arousal. She let it go with a pop and smiled at his discomfort.

"True we are well known for devouring even our most faithful when we are starving. If the farmer had children, a wife, or siblings, he would have eaten them after the dog. Such is what happened to my former family. I remember them beating against my prison to devour me. I shut them out and wouldn't give them entry. This realm has long sense become my domain as well as prison. Martial arts became my source of divine nourishment. That and fascination, dreams, and fantasy all are concepts tied to a moon goddess. I devour them like supplements along with my cultivation." The goddess said.

"I've grown to like you even while you refuse to speak directly while we negotiate, I find this fun. I've rarely heard of such a tactic. Zeus would have struck you down. Hera would have surely turned you away as too troublesome. Apollo my sweet dunce of cousin would have played this game with you and relished every moment of it. Perhaps adding rhymes to the game." She held a distant look in her eyes as she remembered things far in the past. "I believe the game is over though and you will soon awaken. What can you give me?"

"We can give you a small army of priest androids each powered by your qi. They will be programmed to spread your religion you will be able to directly link up with them and direct them. With no need to eat, sleep, or drink they can preach your name around the clock. My house is willing to build for you an avatar to allow you to walk the earth. But my house will never worship you or any god or goddess. We put our faith in ourselves and our ancestors." Johnson said. She tapped a finger to her lips. The lipstick on her lips was smeared across her left breast from her earlier activities.

"Ok I'm willing to give your house my immortal moon style up to immortal 5th stage. Three moon rocks connected to my realm. One for my avatar and the other two for your discretions. And I will give you a hand job. Is that acceptable."

"I want 50 rocks, stage 10 immortal moon body style, and every hole you have. We are offering a field you have no access to, and we are taking care of the sheep for you. It seems we are doing most of the work." Johnson said. She frowned and looked thoughtful.

"10 rocks, stage 6 immortal moon body style, and a blowjob. Don't be too forward we have only just met, and I want to keep my status as a maiden goddess." Selene said.

"Then 40 rocks, stage 9 immortal moon body style, and your every hole. You can tell your sheep whatever you wish they are sheep. They bleat loudly before the slaughter but never fight back. I'm willing to throw in a few battle droids along with your priest droids." Johnson said.

She raised a delicate eyebrow and the bells in her hair rang as she shook her head in resignation. "Perhaps 25 rocks, stage 7 immortal moon body style and," she turned around and spread her firm bubble-like cheeks apart. They revealed a dark wrinkled eye with a womanly scent that drove the mind crazy. A few errors appeared in his mental cultivation before he quickly corrected them. "This hole is desired by many and no god has seen it before." It was almost too much but Johnson was trained to take a step beyond.

"Well I can feel my body tugging at me. I'm sorry but it seems we must part before a deal can be struck. Perhaps I can be convinced to stay for 30 rocks, stage 8 cultivation, and the sweetness between your legs, those delightful lips of yours, and that delicate brown eye yours. I suppose it would be worth a battalion of battle droids for the great gifts you are giving to house Farron. If you could also give us some of your eggs, we would be grateful. Surely it would bind us together most tightly." He knew he was stepping over the line now. He wasn't sticking to stories anymore and she might get angry from the breach in protocol even if she asked him to.

"My eggs?" She placed a hand down just above the area and rubbed at the area. "I've had no children and my eggs have not dropped since Hera froze them eons ago. What do you mean to do with them?"

"I mean to mix them with my sperm and use natal vats to birth the next generation of Farron with the eggs of our contracted Goddess." Johnson said.

"So, I would have many children from this union? Though none would come from my womb directly."

"Hundreds of thousands we need to repopulate." Johnson said. She smiled at that in a way he couldn't read.

"So, the next generation will be my sons. A part of me will be on the earth forever and no one will be able to take that from me." Her eyes fluttered in a way he hadn't seen before. She looked at him in a new way. One he wasn't comfortable with. She was the strongest woman he could find with good genes by her looks. This was a common practice among Farron. Buying the eggs of woman to diversify the Farron genome was natural.

"How many do you need?" In a flash of light, she created a box of some sort. "This box contains one of my ovaries, 30 rocks, and the tomes containing immortal moon body cultivation up to the 8th stage now let's begin."

Lemon start

She was upon him before he could brace himself. The familiar feeling of the Selene's lips enveloping his head made him hard instantly. Her soft eyes held a bit of mischief as she played with her nipples while she eased his member down her throat. The tightness from her muscles alone told him she could have ripped it off then and there. If she were an evil goddess she might have done so. Then again, she wanted something from him. He moved his hands around her head and felt the intricate braids. Her tongue curled around his member as her soft lips touched the base of his member and her throat began to drag at his mushroom.

He moved his hands down and joined her in playing with her now hard nipples. They stood up rigid with every twinge her throat pulled at him harder. Already he felt himself growing closer. She was a virgin goddess. Hand jobs, blowjobs, and tit fucks were all part of the virgin goddess repertoire. He stopped twinging her nipples he could feel himself getting close, so he took two big hands of tit flesh and squeezed as he unloaded in her throat. Selene took it in stride and eased off his prick sucking on his head slowly milking each drop from him and swallowing it down.

No matter how hard he squeezed her tits resisted him after a certain point. That was divine qi for you it didn't let him do anything painful towards her. She stood up and turned around presenting her brown eye and pussy to him. "Be careful back there I've never had a man in either hole. Zeus only ever received blowjobs from me." He gripped her ass cheeks and marveled at how firm they were. They were muscular beyond reason with a thin layer of fat and the scent it was filled with all the feminine hormones that he was warned against. This wasn't the slight scent from before. No this was a full censor overloading blast.

He placed his nose on her brown eye and breathed in deeply feeling the chemicals in his mind overload in a distressingly pleasant manner. "Hey stop that." He smacked her ass for her impertinence. She agreed so her body was his to do with as he pleased.

"If I want to smell your ass then I will Selene." He said. "I want to remember it." Johnson said softly. She looked back at him and something of a gentle smile spread across her lips. She turned around and kissed him full on before turning back around and shoving herself onto his face. His member was rock hard again and ready to go. But he resisted in favor of licking her virgin black slit and smelling her ass. Why did he want to mark this in his memory so thoroughly? He knew the reason. This was it he would never see her again out of choice. He was a man and didn't need her.

Being with her would strip him of freedom. Her genitals and his sex drive would make him a slave. So, he licked her pussy, gently he prodded the hole. Then he moved down tickling her urethra before moving to her clit. The small purple nub peaked from the sheathe and he touched it with his tongue lightly. Selene's pussy clenched and unleashed a damp trickle of lubricating juices. A stronger scent began to pour from her, and his mind felt fuzzy.

He moved gently rubbing her hips, cheeks and back. Johnson wouldn't ever see her again, so he wanted this to be his. This moment would always be his alone. He applied his mushroom to her hole prodding it gently resisting the urge to plow away. This moment was his and he wouldn't let it be ruined by a dry cunt.

"I expected you to violently plunge into each and every hole like a beast." She said ruining the magic. He smacked her ass again to silence her. "Careful I can always force you off me. You forget whose domain this is." He lowered a finger and flicked her clit. Selene's pussy spasmed closing tightly before opening. Johnson used the distraction to align himself and grab hold of her tits. A few flicks and she was shaking from her own arousal. She continued to drip on him as he spun fingers wet from her own juices around her areolas. She reached a hand down grabbing her own vulva and spread herself. He felt his mushroom squish against her snatch before slowly sliding in. Every inch she convulsed lubing him up for the next inch.

When he bottomed out hands on her nipples, he knew it was time. Pulling back, he pushed in slowly unsure of how long he would have before he really woke up. This was clearly not a dream or at least he hoped it wasn't. She had given Farron a lot with little in the way of a time limit. Perhaps a goddess didn't consider such things relevant.

As she grew ever wetter, he sped up feeling her canal begin to heat up as her muscles crushed his cock. There was a smile on her face as her hand went down to her clit mashing and playing with it to eke out more pleasure. He was getting closer and quickly. Her nipples were like diamonds now and her cunt soaked his balls and leaked down both of their legs. With a final thrust, he came bottoming out and pushing himself as deeply as he could inside of her.

He popped his member out even wet as it was it had a final job to do. Johnson placed his member against the brown eye of his client and pushed it in. He picked her up and sat back on the bed feeling his member slide all the weigh in with the force of gravity. Taking his right hand, he plunged it into her cunt as it erupted with fluids covering his hand as he finished a final time in her ass.

He pulled his used member out of her brown hole and felt himself start to return to his body. The pain desperation and all his feelings before coming here came crashing back. She reached for him and they kissed as he faded away. He would always remember those deliciously plump lips.

Lemon end.

Tubes ran into his body feeding him fluids and antibiotics. A respirator breathed for him; his hands were held together by clamps as a surgeon droid worked to put them back together. The back of his head was open to the world as his skull was slowly put back together by another droid. It seemed he had some brain damage from his battle and needed to be repaired. To the corner of his eye, he saw the cube she had given him. Selene may he never meet her again. She was a danger to him and house Farron.

His eye moved to the two-way mirror to see his father. The older man had a new prostatic arm and a mechanical eye. The left side of his face was burned leaving it stretched and ugly. His once full head of black hair was gone burnt away. It had surely been centuries since a head of house Farron had been damaged so brutally. Whatever had caused this situation wasn't over. This contract with the goddess Selene would help them but not as much as he hoped.


	6. Chapter 5

The boom of railguns was constant like background music in a VR. Years ago, he trained in various VR platforms learning new skills. He knew how to drive tank, fly a helicopter, and operate power armor. It was a competition between his generation to see who could learn the most skills. Johnson wasn't the best among them, but he had his area of expertise. He could shoot a full auto Masquerade rifle with the best of them.

A Masquerade rifle is a small arms rail gun. He missed handling them. They weren't allowed to use real guns inside the village. He could only hold his rifle in the virtual world. Masquerade rifles were sleek, black, boxy, and heavy. The barrel looked like the teeth of some deranged monster and when it fired it had the quick of a mule. Small arms chemical propellant guns didn't have the same feel as a real railgun.

The second he exited the isolation room he heard the sound. Boom! Boom! Boom! The rail guns fired with impunity at any who would dare invade the Farron compound. Scrap iron was melted down to make more rounds for the defensive turrets. The other houses throughout the village mocked them for spending a massive sum of credited notes on AI controlled artillery cannons. The guns were made with a series of super magnets wrapped around a tube. When a piece of metal entered the barrel, it was fired forward at a good percentage of lightspeed. Not much could withstand such a blow. Even the monsters that surely assailed their home were wary of the mounted weapons. Under the control of Leroy nothing would get in.

For the moment they had some breathing room. His father had called a meeting to decide their next move. Doll helped him into his best coat and fasted the buttons on for him. His hands were still cracked and healing it would be a few hours before the nanites finished healing his skin. They had given him a much larger dose of them than normal. He looked at Doll seeing the cracked skin and the red stained skin. "How's your arm?" Johnson asked.

"Functional, though my skin will take a few more days to fully grow back. I won't blend in well until its healed." Doll said. He smirked to himself she was ever the assassin. Blending in would always be one of her main concerns. "What of your hands?"

"I'm glad your healing. My hands are getting better. I should be able to take my suit off after this meeting myself." She fastened the last button and pulled his pants up.

"If I had a better weapon or more rounds you wouldn't have had to damage your hands." Johnson nodded. With five or six grenades she might have been able to destroy the monster by herself. As strong as monsters were conventional weapons were still effective. That's why Scale had battalions of battle droids. They set them out south as a mobile wall to keep the more powerful monsters at bay. It had worked to protect them for nearly a millennium. It seemed the evolution of monsters eventually found a way to bypass that defense.

"Nothing is static everything changes. If you had more rounds that might not have changed the outcome. Still I wouldn't be alive without you." Johnson said. Doll nodded. Then slipped his shoes on him and tied them.

"You're moving up in rank. Its not every son of Farron that goes to a house council meeting. Master Ralph must believe you to be special." Doll said. This wasn't like his father. To show recognition to a lowly 5th stage mental cultivator was abnormal. Failure had garnered attention but only because he was an embarrassment and his father had the time. Now he should be below notice unless there was a suicide mission for him and a few other expendable sons.

He remembered his time with Selene. Free of pain in the arms of a goddess. Things had looked so hopeful. Her scent was permanently filed in his memory. Johnson sucked in a breath and let it out calming himself. He left the room and walked down the hall with Doll escorting him.

The walls were thick enough to cancel out most of the sounds outside, but the shaking of the ground couldn't be ignored. "Johnson is that you. I thought you died in your meditation room." Mocked Janus.

"It seems I'm harder to kill than you realized." Retorted Johnson. He flexed his qi feeling it transform slightly into energy. Static filled the air as his qi saturated the room. Janus smirked and unleashed his qi. Johnson could smell rust as qi battled qi. Johnson was at a typing disadvantage. For a time they were evenly matched, Johnson's electric blue matched Janus's rust red blow for blow.

Suddenly, Janus flexed his qi surrounding Johnson's own in a veil of rust red colored qi. To his third eye the world had been swallowed up by a cloud of rust. Janus smirked expecting Johnson to concede. Johnson returned the smirk and pushed against his brother's qi. Janus had better control and far more qi.

Janus held a look of confusion up until Johnson's qi began to take ground. Johnson sucked all the vital energy from the room and turned it into qi at a constant rate. With nothing to recover his reserves Janus began to lose ground as he was forced to retreat. Johnson spread his qi around Janus and touched his brother's skin with it. Janus looked at him with fear in his eyes. Johnson had just bypassed his brother's defenses and touched him. Johnson observed the fear in his brother's eyes for a moment before letting up and walking on.

"It seems you have grown powerful in your isolation. My brother will be pleased." Uncle Isaac said and brushed his beard in contemplation. "Come all of you the meeting will start soon." Johnson bowed along with many of his brothers. Some of them he remembered during the night they beat him. Janus hadn't been the worst of them, but he was the most confident.

Bang! A robotic hand smashed a tablet into bits before a servant droid quickly removed the pieces. "Leroy update our situation. What have you managed to catalogue?" Demanded Ralph Farron his father and the man who commanded him to go in isolation before this began.

"Water reserves are dangerously low, and the life tree pumps have been tanted. The 5ft sublevel and deeper are overrun with monsters. The fetuses growing in the vats have been transformed by the hundreds of thousands. Our ammunition won't last two weeks, and the guns may break down before then. Outside are monsters outside have been unseen since the last great monster destroyed the holy capitol of mecca. The qi that scrambled all the AI with an ACU has grown denser. The casualties continued to climb all over the city. There are also two messages from the capitol. One a village wide broadcast and the other for us directly." Reported Leroy.

His father looked at him and then the others. Over 400 young men of house Farron waited in the theater above the council. Ralph Farron smiled as his eyes surveyed each one of them. "You are my precious sons. Each of your lives have been marked in difficulty in one form or another. Even so none of you sought to rise above your place in the family. Content like sheep you've kept to your station. None of you are needed to hold our networks together. None of you are chemists creating new materials to improve life for those around you. And none of you are engineers building new androids or android parts. That all changes now. I with the power devested to me by my father before me. Knight all of you as knights of Farron warriors of the house. I'm updating your systems now." Johnson's eyes opened wide. His father just conscripted him. Before he could close off his system from the network, he felt the new code merge with his AI.

Farron Knight system

QP (Qi Potency) (lv x STR) x (magnitude ^ BCS) = 10(11.3)

Johnson Farron lv1 0 of 100 MC (Monsters Cells)

Mental Cultivation Stage 5 (MCS)

Pathway Cultivation stage 6 (PCS)

Body Cultivation stage 1 (BCS)

SOC 50,000 of 100,000 = (lv x RAM) x magnitude ^ MCS

VEU (Vital Energy Units) 100,000 of 5,000,000

QU ((lv x INT) x magnitude ^ MCS) +1% = 101,000 of 101,000

Barrier (lv x 1000) x (magnitude ^ PCS) = 1b

Barrier Regen (lv x WIS) magnitude ^ PCS= 33,333/sec

health ((lv x VIT) x magnitude ^ BCS) = 10.1

Health Regen ((lv x END) x (magnitude ^ BCS) = 10/min

PATK PDEF PRES

Blunt 11.3 1 1%

Stab 11.3 1 1%

Slash 11.3 1 1%

QATK QDEF QRES

Energy 200% 200% 2%

Steel 0 0 1%

Nature 0 0 1%

Light 0 0 1%

Dark 0 0 1%

Fire 0 0 1%

Water 0 0 1%

Stone 0 0 1%

Air 0 0 1%

attributes

STR 1 DEX 1

VIT 1 END 1

TFM 2 RAM 1

INT 1 WIS 1

Skills

Qi Saturation lv1 – +1% Qi

Qi Enhancement lv1 – +1% QP

Qi Cell Wall lv1 – +1% Health

Qi Barrier lv1 – 1% qi = Barrier

Energy Beam lv2 – SOC 10k (9.5k) +10% QP

Energy Transformation lv1 – SOC 5k -5% Energy skill cost. +1%QP

Gallant Horse lv1 – +1% QP

All at once, he felt infinitely more powerful and more vulnerable. His life was protected by the vicious energy leaking through his body. This knight's system honed his cultivation into a fine blade and even finer armor, but he was lv1.

Energy Beam transformed into something much more dangerous.

Energy Beam = 10k x (11.3 x 2) = 226,000 energy damage.

The price of the attack had decreased, and it became infinitely easier to use. With his barrier regen, he could hold the attack indefinitely. There was only one reason why his father would promote so many to the knight class.

"Many of you will notice that your systems have been changed to the template of the knight class. Some of you have become quite powerful." His father turned his eyes on Johnson for a moment then looked away. "Near our home is a Saxon plant. It is a fully stocked facility with all the raw materials we need to build a better filtering plant for the tainted sap and munitions for the artillery."

Order received #1

Reach the Saxon Plant and facilitate the transfer of raw materials back to Farron Manor.

Failure:

Self-Termination

Self-Termination the nanites in their bodies would shut down their vital organs and they would die. It was a power the lord of a house had over the household. Something rigged up near the creation of nanites. There was no getting out of it until the current lord died. With the knight system update it was made worse. Steady reports from his AI would find their way to his father now. Normally such tyranny wouldn't fly. Those of the same generation were immune to the nanites of their siblings. Isaac remained by his father's side face solemn and resigned.

"You will fight your way out of the compound in the cover of night and make your way to the droid frame plant." Markus his brother stood up in a blur a light spear appeared in his hand aimed at their father. He threw it long before the nanites could stop him. The spear impacted their father's barrier cracking it in several places. When one layer of the barrier cracked the room became awash with their father's qi.

Qi once cloud like shifted into a liquid form transforming into a sharp piercing spikes that lashed out ripping through Markus's barrier. A hand made of very solid qi touched Markus. Johnson looked away from the spectacle and into the eyes of his father. The man's eyes were hard and manic. After a century of peace, the man was unprepared. They were attacked too quickly, their village wall bypassed, and now the richest house in scale didn't have enough resources to stave off dehydration for long.

He heard his brother gasp as the nanites in his body attacked him. Markus gasped and spluttered as his lungs shut down. This wasn't the normal self-termination this was a spectacle for compliance. Johnson stood up. He had beaten Gloria if he had to kill his father he would.

"Enough," Johnson yelled at the top of his lungs. Even his father's eyes widened at the outburst. "We need him." Johnson said lowering his voice to a conversation level. He had their attention. "There are 400 and we need to break the monster line twice. Every man's life is precious if it must be sacrificed then let it be spent with meaning. Markus isn't an engineer, but he is a mechanic. He can build a carrier and armor plate it against the monsters outside. I can't do that and not many of us can. Those that can may not make it. We need Markus to complete this mission." Johnson said. He met his father's eyes the whole time trying to read the man.

The man nodded his head and dropped his qi to a comfortable level. Markus began to breath again taking in painful gasping breaths. "All of you report to the quartermaster to receive your gear. Any rations will have to be found outside the mansion walls. There isn't enough left for any of you.

From there the ball started rolling. He was directed to a pod with his name on it. Above the pod was his armor. Titan 1 Ballistics powered armor it was colored grey. Most of the metallic plates were removed from the armor and replaced with hardened plastic. The helmet was rounded like a dome and still had the metal plates protecting the user. There were numerous joints running throughout the armor places were horns, claws, and spikes could easily slice through. The pauldrons had been replaced with plastic giving the armor a shinier appearance.

He entered the pod. "Hello Johnson." Leroy spoke.

"Mayhap you had something to do with this Leroy?" Johnson asked. The arms of the pod began to move piecing the armor on him methodically.

"Perhaps, I had something to do with your promotion. You've managed to impress your father three times in the span of two weeks. Once by surviving ten experimental pills. By the way those were not the pills your father had assigned to you. The pills you were assigned were in your locker. Did you take all of them?" Leroy asked. "No matter they aren't important to your father anymore. He had hoped to use them to break into the immortal stage. A feat that would have helped this situation a great deal. The immortal stage holds powers tens of magnitudes beyond the mortal stage."

"No cultivator ever achieved immortality by pills alone. This crisis is probably father's best chance at immortality." Johnson replied.

"When did you get so bold. Could it be the brain damage?" Leroy said. He remembered his battle against Gloria and then his absolute fucking of the titan Selene. He was a man of Farron now. There was no going back. No trip into a monster's womb would change him.

"It may have helped."

"The second time you surprised him was your battle with the natal droid turned monster designation Gloria. You were expected to die and when you didn't, it was impressive. To top it off you of all people the boy he punched for wasting house resources stood up to him. You didn't have to and Markus's talents as a mechanic are matched or surpassed by many going with you. He was proud of you for defending your brother." Johnson knew he would never hear it from the man. It wasn't a matter of pride but appearances. He couldn't be seen praising a son that opposes him in a time of crisis.

Titan I Ballitstic armor x10 PATK, +1000 PDEF, and +10%PRES

PATK PDEF PRES

Blunt 113 1001 11%

Stab 113 1001 11%

Slash 113 1001 11%

He stepped out of the pod and slammed his knuckles together. The armor accelerated his movements making him a little faster and much stronger. It made him a whole magnitude of physical power stronger. That and his defense was high. He would rely upon it if his barrier ever failed.

From the weapons rack he saw numerous arms, shields, and guns. What caught his eye was an energy powered weapon. He picked it up feeling his typing sing with its presence. "A good choice." Leroy commented. It felt odd hearing him in his helmet. There was a whole chat going on using the helmet's communication system. Short messages moved through bursts of qi from one armored unit to the next.

Johnson grabbed as many grenades as he could put on three belts and wrapped them around his waist. In his hands was the only weapon he would need. A Tesla Converter, a one hit wonder that destroyed everything in its path. He could use his energy beam through the weapon without damaging his power armor.

Everything was going to be alright. He had one guaranteed kill.

Tesla Converter: Energy Beam damage = (10k x 11.3 x 2) ^2 = 51,076,000,000

The Tesla converter was the crown jewel of energy weapon research. There weren't many anymore but there were still some schematics of them out there. This wasn't a treasure of house Farron. It was in the armory with everything else. He took a Masquerade rifle and a solidly built Cavalier revolver that used exploding rounds big around as his thumb.

The door opened leading out of the mansion they needed only cross two floors of monster infested territory. After that they would be on the street. On the street they needed to head west for the factory and avoid as many fights as possible. Find a way in the building. Jerry rig a vehicle. Load it up with raw materials. Find rations. Return quickly.


	7. Chapter 6 part 1

Johnson knocked on the heavy blast door leading to an empty room, another blast door, and monster infested territory. The knock was muted by the dense thick qi forged steel door. "Sebastian the Mad Seabass Farron insisted that every conceivable area in this mansion be reinforced with qi forged steel. The number of credited notes it took drove him into bankruptcy he had to rely on family handouts. Some would have called him a wasteful shame to the family. He ended the money loaning days of house Farron. It is unquestionable that if he hadn't done so, we would all be dead." Markus said. His voice solemn.

"In life you were Sebastian the Mad Seabass Farron but to us you are Sebastian the heroic Seabass Farron. Let none of our generation ever doubt your wisdom. Paranoia can save lives. Even if it is hundreds of years later." Johnson said. He placed his armored hand on the metal feeling the ancient qi of Seabass with his own. There was more desire than madness within the qi.

"You didn't have to save me. But you did." Markus began.

"You are my brother even if we barely know each other. We are in the same boat as it were." Johnson said.

"None were jumping to do the same. They would have let me die but you didn't." Markus said.

"Why did you throw the light spear?" Johnson asked.

"I was scared that our lives were over what else did I have to lose. Not all of us will make it back from this." Markus said.

"There is a monster cell extraction plant near the frame plant. It has heavy doors. Sometimes monsters aren't fully dead when their brought in. If anything goes wrong, we should head there. Maybe there are some extractions we can use." Johnson hefted the tesla converter. "We have a key to it right here."

"I've been there before." Janus said. "The doors are heavy made of qi steel like the blast doors. We don't need to blast our way through, I know the code." He said and pounded his breastplate.

"How do you know the code?" Markus said and crossed his arms.

"The guy who managed repairs on the droids inside was a friend of mine. He's the reason, I started getting into mechanics. It gave us more to talk about." Janus said.

"Alright we have a plan and a backup plan. What do we do if we can't make it to either? There are manhole covers all along the village. They lead to the sewage treatment plant. It won't be quick but many of us should be able to fit down there before…" Maximus said. He was a network trainee not vital for the running of the intranet inside the mansion.

"Get over run and devoured by monsters. Or whatever they choose to do with us. A good plan C lets hope plan A works you should send the information to the other teams. I'm sure the sewer can be used to get closer to the frame plant. If we knock down a few walls, we might be able to move from the monster cell plant to the frame plant. There really isn't much room between those buildings." Johnson said. He nodded his head they had a strategy at least.

The blast doors began to open, and he put a round in the chamber of his Masquerade. With the power armor on the gun weighed less than nothing. They quickly formed lines those with shields and melee weapons in the front. Johnson was on the second row Janus and Markus were with him while Maximus stood in the front. They moved quickly as the doors closed behind them and the next blast door opened.

He heard the wet splattering sounds of blood and gore as flesh was ripped away with the opening of the door. A red cocoon of flesh dropped on the floor and began to shake. A wave from one of self-appointed captains directed Yuta a brother of his house who happened to type into fire. He also took a flamethrower with him. Yuta had a symbol for fire on his steel pauldrons one of the few suits of power armored fully armored.

Pointing the hose of his weapon at the struggling sack. He blasted it with burning napalm. That was when the sack burst open. Hrryyk! The creature within shrieked as the fleshy bag burst open. A corpse within the bag stood up inflamed and yelling. There was another shriek higher pitched and inside of the man. On fire his body was ripped open as thousands of spiders as big around as dinner plates emerged. They several shot a web line to Yuta and yanked themselves onto his armor.

Johnson couldn't break rank so close to the real clash. It was the guy who directed Yuta. He was designated Captain Richard. Richard moved quickly crushing what spiders he could with his bare hands as they began to cut through the joints in Yuta's armor. Johnson realized; he couldn't afford to be distracted. Forcing his eyes away from the spectacle, He saw spiders like the ones from the sack crawling up the walls and around them. In seconds they would repeat the process attach themselves to their power armor and cut them out of it. Or dig inside and make a nest in their bodies.

From his belt, he pulled three incendiary magnet grenades. He pulled the pin and tossed them one at a time in areas he thought they would be most effective. Safe in their power armor and behind qi barriers he hoped their small force would be fine. The grenades stuck and exploded releasing three small fiery explosions. The spiders the fire touched died slowly. Those in the explosion died instantly while many moved unscathed.

Others reacted to seeing his maneuver and threw their own incendiary grenades just as the spiders who survived Johnson's initial attack dropped. That was when massive spider monsters with robotic bodies guiding their movement emerged. Yuta was on the ground one of the spiders managed to get in his suit and was playing havoc inside. Many around them were in the same boat. Already life signs went out.

Johnson yelled out and charged. He didn't know why he did it. These small spiders were able to bypass barriers somehow. Surely the larger ones had a similar assassination ability. A thousand reasons entered his mind all of which were great reasons why not to charge. He left his Tesla converter on the ground it was too heavy. He would need to maneuver. This wasn't a VR he could die here. He knew that but it was the battle with Gloria. Johnson wasn't afraid of these giant spiders like his better armored and heavy shielded brothers. He was familiar with these creatures.

A web lashed on to his armor and he pulled his side arm and blasted a round where the line lead. He paid no mind to any that landed on him he simply continued to move towards the battle and made sure his side arm was loaded. The gun's recoil couldn't be felt in a quarter ton of power armor. He was better armored and armed than he had been against Gloria. While the anarchy rained, he found holes in the line and made his way to the front. One of the many attached droids to the drider monsters either fired off small arms or the occasional grenade launcher. Most were battle droids.

One aimed for him and fired. He was dead, a heavy round cut through the air missing many of his brothers. Johnson threw up his barrier with everything he had. The round hit then he heard the boom. The bullet flattened on his barrier and fell to the ground.

Barrier -10,000

Barrier 999,990,000

Barrier 1b

It seemed that bullets didn't cut through barriers. No wonder they weren't using small arms. He pointed his side arm and fired as another line of web attached to his armor. He would have to use the portable monster cell extractor on them later.

He raced forward letting the small arms bounce harmlessly off his barrier. The force and power behind them were more than enough to kill him normally. This knight system really was beyond the norm. No other system restructured the way qi worked so effectively.

They were already down 50 of their number. Brothers who would never come back. The battle had devolved into chaos and there was no where to go. The blast door behind them was shut and the way forward was blocked.

Johnson raised his hand and created a buffer with his barrier. There was nothing between him and the nearest drider. A blue beam of energy emerged and lanced into the nearest drider. Their barriers held for a moment before he forced his way through and pierce through the exoskeleton. With the barrier protecting his body and power armor from a backlash. He could focus even more power into the attack.

Energy Beam level up x3

Energy Beam lv5 – SOL 10k qi 10k(9.5k)-50k (45.5k) 5x qi used x qi potency = damage – No longer do you flounder about with your basic Energy Beam. You've managed to control the output with your qi barrier and direct it in a more compact form.

Blue energy blasted from his hand in a far darker shade than normal. While he used it, he was forced to remain stationary as he ripped through the enemy driders. At his side Markus threw a powerful light spear slamming through the head of the nearest drider. These monsters were scary, but they weren't unbeatable.

"Their barriers and exoskeleton don't seem to surpass 100k damage combined." Markus mumbled while Maximus quickly sent out the message. Every brother among them who could output enough damage to kill stepped forward tossing spears of flame, light, and any type they had. Slowly, they drove the driders back through the blast door and kept them away with heavy technique fire.

They still had a long way to go. They needed more power. Johnson made his way to the first drider corpse and laid his pack on the ground. He pulled a machine with a massive needle out. Taking the needle, he jammed it into the soft flesh under the monster's carapace.

The monster began to shrink inward on itself as it was broken down and processed by field nanites. Eventually, a lump was deposited in the machine's canister. A red stone like structure was deposited while the useless parts were poured out as waist.

Johnson took off his helmet with Janus and Markus standing with him. "Are you sure about this? Monster cells are dangerous. Even with nanites and a system. They can drive a man mad." Janus said. "You seem like the sort who would start raving about cheese." Johnson tossed the amorphous substance in his mouth and swallowed it down.

Monster Cell Units 450

Level Up x3

lv4 120 of 130 to level up

Attribute points 3

In an instant he was overwhelmingly more powerful. He looked at the others attaching their machines to their kills some of them were still his. They had just attached themselves to them. He wanted the toss them aside and claim what was his and felt ashamed. This wasn't about him this was about all of them. As a group they would have a better chance of pulling this mission off than as individuals.

Gently, he placed his helmet back on his head and looked to the three who followed him into hell. Janus had a tear in his knee joint where one of the spiderlings nearly got him. They needed to level up as well if they were to survive. Turning to some of the other kill, he nodded to them and helped set up their field extractors.


End file.
